SSM Supporting Team Events Practice Question
Exhibit
Iteration Plan: - User Story A: 8 pts (Dev complete) - User Story B: 5 pts (In progress) - User Story C: 3 pts (Not started) - Team Velocity: 10 pts
Refer to the exhibit. As the Scrum Master during the middle of the iteration, how should you coach the team regarding their commitment?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates select options where the team works overtime or forces completion of all items, failing to recognize that scope is negotiable when capacity is exceeded.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Facilitate a discussion with the Product Owner to renegotiate scope based on current capacity.
The exhibit shows the team is currently over-committed based on their velocity of 10 points. The Scrum Master must coach the team to reprioritize their focus with the Product Owner. This is critical in SAFe to ensure the team produces high-value, quality increments rather than attempting to finish everything poorly. It encourages the team to practice radical transparency and effective scope management during the iteration.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Encourage the team to work overtime to ensure all stories are completed.
Why it's wrong here
Working overtime is a sign of unsustainable pace and poor planning. It inevitably leads to burnout and reduced quality. Sustainable development is a core Agile principle, and the Scrum Master should prevent the team from resorting to crunch time as a default strategy.
- ✗
Advise the team to drop Story A and focus on completing Stories B and C.
Why it's wrong here
Dropping the most valuable or already near-finished work is inefficient. The team should collaborate with the Product Owner to determine the most valuable sequence of work, which may involve completing Story A and potentially deferring Stories B or C to a future iteration.
- ✓
Facilitate a discussion with the Product Owner to renegotiate scope based on current capacity.
Why this is correct
Renegotiating scope is a standard Agile response when capacity and commitment mismatch. This ensures the team focuses on delivering the highest value work within the iteration, maintaining quality standards and keeping the team's pace sustainable throughout the Program Increment.
- ✗
Ignore the velocity discrepancy as velocity is only an estimate and not a guarantee.
Why it's wrong here
While velocity is an estimate, ignoring a significant disconnect between commitment and capacity prevents the team from learning and improving. Ignoring this data prevents the team from becoming more accurate in their planning and leads to chronic under-delivery, undermining stakeholder expectations.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Scaled Agile exam blueprint
This SSM practice question is part of Courseiva's free Scaled Agile certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SSM exam.